Republicans in the New Hampshire legislature seemingly have ceded all control of the state to the American Legislative Exchange Council by introducing an unprecedented seven of ALEC's pieces of model legislation in the past week. ALEC legislation is basically written by corporations to protect their own interests and the organization is behind a rash of legislation across the U.S. that has assaulted working families, attacked unions and sought to unravel the American social safety net. Granite State Progress is watching the progress of the New Hampshire bills:

"This is an incredible illustration of how the current leadership of the New Hampshire House and Senate are selling our state out to the highest bidder," said Zandra Rice Hawkins, Director of Granite State Progress. "Corporations already funnel unlimited money into our political system but to hand them the pen and paper to craft legislation is just plain wrong."

ALEC model legislation heard in committees this week range from repealing new consumer protections under the Affordable Care Act to creating specialized tax credits for businesses and privatizing education to limiting voter access at the ballot box.

"Each of these pieces of legislation benefit special interests at the expense of everyday, hardworking Granite Staters," Rice Hawkins said. "We need to reject corporate-written legislation and focus on ways to ensure New Hampshire state laws benefit New Hampshire state residents."

The ALEC-inspired legislation includes:

HB 1607 "Education Tax Credit": Would divert public education money to private schools in a way to effect vouchers

HB 1560 Health Care Compact: Would allow member states to opt out of any and all national health care rules, including Medicaid and Medicare

CACR 6 Super Majority Act: A thinly-veiled Taxpayer Bill of Rights clone that would handcuff state spending and devastate all services and programs

SB 289 and SB 318 Photo ID to Vote: A photo identification would be required for all voters, despite there being little to no voter fraud in the state, designed specifically to suppress poor and minority voters

HB 1658 Eliminating Support Services for Newborn Children: The title of this one is pretty straightforward and horrific in and of itself. It would specifically target newborn children whose parents are on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, so it goes after the poorest families

SB 372 "Education Tax Credits": Senate version of HB 1607

The New Hampshire General Court, the state's legislature, is controlled by Republicans 19-5 in the Senate and 298-104 in the House, but the governor is Democrat John Lynch, so it seems unlikely that most of these bills will make it into law.

New Hampshire News

On March 22nd, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted to bar the state executive branch from privatizing the prison system. This decision contrasts with the state’s position on the issue last year, when it considered a bill that would send all male prisoners to private prisons. The House said that states are constitutionally required to rehabilitate inmates, so shifting this duty to private entities violates the Constitution. The bill now will move on to the state Senate.
Several private prison companies have donated generously to politicians and groups which seek...

It was a repeat match-up with a very different outcome in the Second Congressional District. Democrat Ann McLane Kuster defeated Republican Congressman Charlie Bass by a roughly five point margin.
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It's been over a year since Planned Parenthood centers in New Hampshire were denied a renewed contract as official state family planning providers by the Republican Executive Council. Since then, the organization has continued to provide essential birth control and family planning assistance to low-income and uninsured women in the state with Title X funding directly from the federal government. However, a recent move to pull their license to dispense contraception is now being proposed.
The Republicans who opposed allowing Planned Parenthood to have...

CONCORD, N.H.—New Hampshire's Senate is voting next week on whether voters must show photo identification at the polls before casting ballots, but unlike a bill vetoed last year, the latest measure does not contain a provision that would delay the counting of some votes.
The New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union says the bill is unnecessary, but is not opposing it, and Senate Republican Leader Jeb Bradley expects the Senate to pass it to the House.
"There is no need for this bill, but since...

Republicans in the New Hampshire legislature seemingly have ceded all control of the state to the American Legislative Exchange Council by introducing an unprecedented seven of ALEC's pieces of model legislation in the past week. ALEC legislation is basically written by corporations to protect their own interests and the organization is behind a rash of legislation across the U.S. that has assaulted working families, attacked unions and sought to unravel the American social safety net. Granite State Progress is watching the progress of...

Mitt Romney can attack public-employee unions all he wants. Rick Perry can attack collective-bargaining rights. Newt Gingrich can call for eliminating child labor laws so that school janitors can be replaced with adolescents.
But those are not winning positions in mainstream America, where polling suggests Americans recognize the value of labor unions and of laws that maintain the right to organize and bargain for better wages, better benefits and better services for children and communities.
And they are not winning positions in New Hampshire, the first-primary state where...

Lawmakers in New Hampshire and Missouri are advancing so-called right-to-work bills that would allow private-sector workers to opt out of joining unions, the latest such efforts to curb labor unions in the legislative season that in many states is now entering the home stretch.
The measures, if successful, would mark the first expansion in a decade of right-to-work laws, which are on the books in 22 states.
Lawmakers in New Hampshire, where Republicans took control of both chambers last fall, passed a right-to-work measure last...

Senate

Rep. Robert L. Theberge (D-4) - Theberge told the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, "It is true that I was a member of ALEC several years ago. My intention was to bring forth a different perspective on issues. However, I quickly learned that the voice, of what I believed to be reason, did not prevail. I was also concerned about the make-up of the members where businesses and corporations had a direct voice and vote on national issues. In particular, pressure was placed on members to put forth legislation and provided with boiler plates for legislation to that end. In conclusion, I am no longer a member of ALEC, nor do I support their views. . . . The organization is protected by the First Amendment, and hearing opposite views hopefully gives everyone food for thought. The latter apparently does not resonate with ALEC's membership."[13]